ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Heart failure is an important chronic and progressive disease worldwide. Patients are faced with several stressors that decrease their quality of life (QoL). The present study aimed to determine the effectiveness of implementing a continuous care model on improving the QoL of patients with heart failure. METHODS: In the present randomized controlled trial, 72 patients with heart failure admitted to Shahid Chamran Hospital of Isfahan (in Central Iran) were randomly divided into 36-individual two groups: the experimental (continuous care model) and control (normal care) groups. In the experimental group, the continuous care model was implemented for 3 months. Data were collected using the standard Minnesota Living with Heart Failure Questionnaire for patients with heart failure. Subsequently, the collected data were entered into the IBM SPSS ver. 20.0 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA) and analyzed using the Mann-Whitney U-test, chi-square test, and independent and paired t-test at a significance level of α≤0.05. RESULTS: The results indicated that the mean scores of QoL before the implementation of continuous care model were 43.3±6.1 in the experimental group and 42.7±5.1 in the control group, indicating no statistically significant difference between the two groups. After the implementation of continuous care model, the mean score of QoL of the experimental group was significantly higher than that of the control group. CONCLUSION: Considering the results obtained in the present study, model implementation could improve the overall scores of QoL in patients with chronic heart failure.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Self-care behaviours are one of the most important determinant factors in the prognosis of heart failure, which can improve the symptoms of the disease, the performance and the reduction of mortality in these patients. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to determine the effectiveness of continuous-care pattern on self-care in heart failure patients admitted to Shahid Chamran Hospital in Isfahan. METHODS: This quasi-experimental study is implemented on 72 patients with heart failure who are admitted to Shahid Chamran Hospital in Isfahan. The patients are randomly assigned to the experimental and control groups (36 patients in each group). For a period of three months, a continuous-care model is performed, and then, the self-care score of patients with heart failure is compared in both groups at baseline and follow-up assessment. The required data were gathered using a demographic questionnaire and a European Heart Failure Self-Care Behavior (EHFSCB). RESULTS: Regarding the implementation of the continuous-care model, the results showed that the mean self-care score before the implementation of the continuous-care model was 28.2 ± 5.02 in the experimental group and 29.5 ± 3.7 in the control group, which was not statistically significant (p = 0.22). However, after implementing continuous-care model, the mean self-care score of the experimental group was 51.4.4 ± 2.8 as compared to the control group (30.8 ± 3.2) (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Based on the findings of this study, it can be concluded that the implementation of this care model can lead to an increase in self-care score in patients with chronic heart failure.
